MIAMI – After enduring the desperate battle over vote counts in the 2000 presidential election debacle – and all the "Flori-DUH" jokes that followed – then fighting over the validity of touch screen voting in the 2004 and 2006 elections, Florida Democrats were eagerly poised for a nice clean shot at 2008. After all, what could possibly go wrong now?

Well, here's exactly what went wrong. In the fourth largest state in the country, with its mother lode of delegates and no shortage of big-money donors, the Democratic candidates are no-shows in the 2008 Florida presidential primary. 

VIDEO: The other Florida primary

That left the state wide open to the Republicans, who had a field day in all that open space, and with all that free air-time right before Super Tuesday. For local Democrats there was the sickening realization they may have just shot themselves in the foot with many of the state's famously independent voters come November.

DNC snub 

When the Florida legislature voted last spring to move up the Florida primary from March to Jan. 29th, in violation of national party rules, the Democratic National Committee reacted harshly. 

To punish Florida, it stripped the state of all 210 of its convention delegates. In order to appease the four approved earlier primary states, the Democratic presidential candidates pledged not to campaign in Florida. All they were allowed to do here was to quickly sneak in and out of private fund-raisers.

While the Republicans also punished Florida, they were much gentler. The national GOP took away half the Florida delegates – leaving a still generous 57 up for grabs – but allowed the Republican candidates to campaign freely here, and as it turned out, without opposition.

A lot of local Democrats thought allowing that to happen was just plain nuts. And two very prominent Democrats even hauled their own national party into federal court.

Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Alcee Hastings argued that in taking away Florida's delegates, and rendering the primary election little more than a beauty contest, the Democratic National Committee was disenfranchising Florida voters.  Hastings claimed the real victims are the people he calls "Joe and Jane Lunch Bucket." Ultimately, they lost that federal case, but the bitter sentiment still resonates.

Just last week, Florida's top Democratic officials once again asked the national party to reconsider, and once again the DNC ignored them. The campaign trail remained cold here for the likes of Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama and former Senator John Edwards.

Left with cardboard cut-outs of candidates

So, now there's the odd scenario in Miami-Dade County of a devoted Obama supporter, Dave Patlak, making lots of news by parading around with a life-sized cardboard cut-out of the Illinois senator. He stands at street corners, or outside early polling places and conducts his surrogate campaign, often entertaining crowds by offering them the opportunity to have their pictures taken with "Barack Obama." That's about as good as it gets this time around.

Following up on the 2000 "Flori-duh" jokes, a Miami Herald political cartoonist recently crafted a picture of a "2008 Duh-mocrats" replete with a donkey with a gun to its head symbolizing the Florida ban.

Of course, the Republicans just love this gift. And local Democrats are left to argue gamely that the electorate is still so energized that they expect a record voter turnout.

But from the moment the legislature moved up the primary date, and the Democrats shied away, the process was up-ended – in a state where residents had hoped, naively it appears, that would never happen again.

Click here for complete coverage of the presidential race.  

By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News, Washington

 WASHINGTON – Army Staff Sgt. Jonathan Dozier's ancestors fought in the Civil War, both World Wars, and Desert Storm, so it seemed only natural that he would serve in the military, too.

"He's been playing soldier since he was a tiny boy," his mother told Tennessee's Jackson Sun. Dozier would dress in camouflage as a child and play army in the woods behind his Chesapeake, Va., home.

He joined the Army for real in 1997, later left to attend Middle Tennessee State University, and re-enlisted in 2005. Before deploying to Iraq in August, he asked his father, "Is it weird to really want to do this?"

"No," his father replied, according to Virgina's Daily Press, "This is what you're trained to do."

Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP

The parents of Army Staff Sgt. Jonathan Dozier, of Chesapeake, Va., Carl Dozier and Martha Cabe, center, and widow Amy Dozier, second from left, receive flags from Brig. Gen. John Johnson, during a burial ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, Tuesday, Jan. 22.Â

Dozier was trained as a sniper team leader in Iraq. He and five other members of the First Armored Division were killed Jan. 9 by a bomb blast in Sinsil, north of Baghdad. When two soldiers appeared later that day at his father's door, his dad knew something was wrong.

"How bad is it?" he asked them, according to the Daily Press. "As soon as they started saying, 'The Secretary of the Army regrets to inform you ...', I knew how bad it was."

The 30-year-old Dozier was laid to rest Tuesday at Arlington National Cemetery in what has become an increasingly rare public burial.

I have been covering the Arlington burials for about eight months, and the public ones used to average as many as two or three a week. But Dozier's burial was the first one open to the press in more than two months.

I think that's because the number of American casualties in Iraq has decreased and, perhaps, because more families are opting for private burials. For instance, the families of the last four fallen service members wanted their burial ceremonies closed to the public.

Dozier was the 402nd casualty of the war in Iraq to be laid to rest at Arlington. Several hundred mourners gathered on a brisk, bleak winter afternoon to pay their final respects to the fallen soldier.

He is survived by his widow, Amy, and their infant daughter, Emma Grace.

Washington Producer John Rutherford is a decorated Vietnam veteran. He posts a weekly tribute at

www.dailynightly.msnbc.com to service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan in the Daily Nightly blog.

 

DALLAS – I was driving my 15-year-old daughter, Rachael, to school the other day. 

"Do we have to listen to the news?" she asked, already switching the tuner from AM to FM. 

"No, you can change the channel," I answered, as if I had any actual say.

After 30 seconds of scanning every station, she remembered nobody plays music in the morning.

"Ugh," she said, digging in her backpack, "I forgot my iPod." 

So she scrolled through my iPod to see if by some miracle my musical tastes have changed. 

"Slightly Stoopid, ewww."

"G. Love, as if."

"The Cure, puh-leeze."

She kept scrolling.

"Anything but Linkin Park," I said, "not at 8:20 in the morning."

She suddenly stopped scrolling, and shot me what I can only call an "accusatory" look.

"What's this?"

"What?"

She showed me my own iPod.

"THIS…Do you seriously have Britney Spears on your iPod?"

I tried to use my grownup voice.

"Yes.  It's her new album. It's surprisingly good."

"Dad," she said earnestly, "Britney Spears is not a good role model, she's disgusting."

Before I could respond, Linkin Park began destroying my car speakers.

'Supporting a train wreck'
It could have just ended there, but it didn't.  That night she waited until the whole family was together in the kitchen to bring it up again.

"Dad downloaded the new Britney Spears album," she said casually.

My 12-year-old daughter, Madison, stifled a laugh.

"You're kidding," my wife said to me. I suddenly realized where Rachael got her "accusatory" look from. "Why would you give her our money?  You're just supporting a train wreck."

I didn't have an answer.

"That's kind of harsh," I said, hoping that would be the end of it. 

But it wasn't. For the past couple of weeks, I've been trying to answer that question for myself.  It's literally kept me up at night.  

Why did I buy the Britney Spears album?

I should mention that I've never been a Britney Spears fan. When Rachael was nine years old, she begged me to take her to a concert.  I did…it was torture.

And it's impossible to see anything positive in Spears' personal life. There's no need for me to go into the sordid details.  If you live in America, you already know about her alleged problems with substance abuse, all-night partying, driving disasters, marital strife and unstable behavior. Most importantly, you know her actions may have endangered her children. She has lost custody of both, and this week a judge suspended her visitation rights indefinitely. 

Britney Spears has no one to blame for any of this but herself. 

But is it really necessary to enjoy watching her self-destruct?

Hoping for a second chance

If most of us had a friend or family member in her situation, we'd be grief-stricken.  We would pray she gets help, or has a "moment of clarity" and realizes she's putting herself in jeopardy. A family spokesperson last week publicly asked for Americans to pray for Britney. 

"I would really hope that that those who seek God for strength in their life would be interceding for this family," said Lou Taylor on the Today Show.

Instead, people are betting on whether Britney will overdose or die in a car accident.   There's even a website offering a Sony Playstation 3 to the person who picks the date of Britney Spears' death. The paparazzi chase her around to capture every down-spiraling minute.

Have I seen the pictures?  Yep.  

Read the lurid details?  Sure.

Been morbidly entertained?  Yes.

Not anymore.

As a person of faith, I believe in second chances, and third, and fourth for that matter.  Britney Spears may not deserve it, but it's not for me to decide.  Yeah, I'll pray for Britney Spears, as naïve as that may sound to some of you, because her family asked.

So, in thinking about it I discovered the real reason I bought Britney Spears' new album.  It's a symbolic vote for a second chance.

Plus it's got a beat you can dance to.

MIAMI – On Tuesday, one year after moving here from Illinois, I got a firsthand look at one of the key issues shaping southern Florida – migration from Cuba.

Just before dawn, I was out for a run near the waters of Biscayne Bay. I had nearly reached the Rickenbacker Bridge when I saw ahead of me in the lifting darkness a group of people walking toward me on the same tree-lined path.

Not fully awake, despite the fact that I was running, my first thought was this might be a bunch of teenage kids who were up to no good. After all, why would any group of people be walking together in a tight-knit pack on a running path just before daybreak?

I moved over to a parallel path closer to the water, one with fewer trees and better light. As I passed the group, I observed it was made up of mostly men, but a few women as well. Again, without full light it was difficult to tell. Some of the men walked slowly with their hands folded gently behind them, a posture that was slightly comforting to this lone jogger.

I continued my run over the bridge and started back when I heard a siren and soon saw red emergency vehicle lights ahead. Then I saw a single helicopter flying overhead.

As I got closer, I could take in the whole scene, and I suddenly knew exactly what was happening before me. The group was now accompanied by a fire rescue truck, a police car, and a couple of law enforcement officers standing near them.

Everyone in the group was seated on the same running path, quietly, seemingly peaceful in their place, some without shoes, one with gray hair, and a few with sheets or blankets wrapped around them.  

They were Cubans. They had made it. Dry feet. Success.

The group will very likely be allowed to remain here under the U.S. government policy known as "wet foot/dry foot." Had they been interdicted at sea, they would most likely have been sent back to Cuba.

Dangerous journey
U.S. Coast Guard said they've seen a steady increase in the number of Cubans taking to the sea and heading to Florida. During 2007 the Coast Guard reported that of the more than 7,000 Cubans known to have set sail for Florida, at least 2,868 were interdicted at sea, and more than 4,500 made it past Coast Guard cutters in the Florida Straits and arrived on U.S. soil. Untold hundreds also died trying and were lost at sea.

Despite the dangers, Cubans continue to take the risky journey – during the first 15 days of 2008 Coast Guard crews have already interdicted 203 Cuban migrants attempting to enter the U.S. illegally.

When I got home, I flipped on the NBC television station in Miami, WTVJ, and my suspicions that the people I had seen had just arrived in the country were confirmed.

The lower third of the screen read "Cubans Ashore" and the helicopter shot showed the very people I had just seen. Later, I read an account from the 14 Cubans in which they said they were dropped off quietly on the shore at about 6:30 a.m. after spending a chilly night aboard a speedboat.

By that math, I saw them within about 30 minutes of their arrival, and I know they saw me. So I guess it is possible that as NBC Correspondent Mark Potter said, "You may have been their first American."

NEW ORLEANS, La.  – Another page has turned in the post-Katrina history of Louisiana.

Bobby Jindal, the 36-year-old son of Indian immigrants, was sworn in as the state's governor today.  A two-term Republican congressman, he takes over from Democrat Kathleen Blanco, who was at the helm when the storm hit and was blamed both for her handling of floods' immediate aftermath and for the slow pace of the state's recovery.  

AFP - Getty Image

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal smiles at his wife Supriya Jindal after taking the oath of office in Baton Rouge on Monday.Â

Voters in the state cast their ballots for change, and with Jindal they certainly have a fresh face.  He's the youngest currently serving governor in the United States and the first ever of Indian descent.

Fast rising star
Jindal's parents immigrated to Louisiana in the early 1970s, settling in Baton Rouge, where the new governor was born. His given name is Piyush, but as a youngster he asked his family to call him "Bobby," picking that up from watching "The Brady Bunch" on television.  

Converting in high school from Hinduism to Catholicism, Jindal graduated from Brown University and studied as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. A fast-rising political star, he served in the Bush administration in the Department of Health and Human Services and then as a congressman from the first district of Louisiana.

Elected to the governor's mansion with 54 percent of the vote last November (his closest competitor had 17 percent) Jindal takes over at an extremely dire time in the state's history.

Turbulent time
Katrina battered what was already an economically and socially challenged state, and Jindal will have to deal with ongoing crises in health care, crime, insurance issues and infrastructure all amidst a background of continuing population shifts.

But it is ethics – long the bane of Louisiana politics – that Jindal says will be top of his priority list.  In a state with a long history of cronyism and corruption – former Gov. Edwin Edwards is currently serving time in a federal penitentiary – it's that image as a reformer that Jindal's supporters tout as his biggest asset.

Past reform-minded governors in Louisiana have had short-lived careers, though. It remains to be seen whether Jindal will be any different. He certainly has the goodwill of the public right now. The New Orleans Times Picayune, in an editorial, even went so far as to label him "a brave new hope." 

Though some critics have accused him of being inaccessible and vague with details of his plans, he's starting off with a clean slate, and even his detractors seem willing to give him a shot. 

A lot of people will be watching to see what he does with his chance.

MIAMI – In Miami, the U.S. Coast Guard is urging Cuban-American families to stop financing the dangerous business of smuggling people from Cuba to the United States.

So far, though, those pleas have fallen on deaf ears as the lucrative trade in human cargo continues to grow and more men, women and children die at sea. Based on recent reports, the Coast Guard believes as many as 65 people may have died in Cuban smuggling trips since Nov. 24.

"I find it particularly frustrating and deeply disturbing that some in the South Florida community, and some Cuban-American families in particular, continue to support illegal and life threatening migrant smuggling," said Rear Admiral David W. Kunkel, Commander of the Seventh Coast Guard District.

Arguing that paying migrant smugglers directly funds organized crime, Kunkel added, "Some members of the community are also tacitly supporting these criminals by failing to report suspicious activity or looking the other way."

Smugglers – not saviors, criminals

The biggest problem, Coast Guard officials say, is that the smugglers are not gentle saviors driven by a humanitarian urge to reunite Cuban families separated by decades of political strife.  Instead, they are seen as increasingly organized criminals who charge upwards of $10,000 per passenger. In order to make the most money possible per trip, they cram way too many people on small speedboats, provide no safety gear and venture out on unpredictable seas that can turn fierce with little warning.

In taking the unusual step of pointing fingers at the U.S.-based families who pay for the smuggling trips, the Coast Guard is desperately trying to avert what it sees as a looming disaster. As more speedboats head from Florida under cover of night to pick up passengers from Cuba, the risks grow and the likelihood of even more deaths as sea rises dramatically.

Within just the last few weeks there have been several tragic examples: As many as 40 people from Perico, Cuba – including perhaps a dozen children – are believed to have died on a failed smuggling voyage aboard a boat chartered in Miami. 

A short time later, two more people drowned and more were thrown into the sea when another smuggling boat capsized near the Cuban coast. In yet another incident, a Cuban man was airlifted to Miami in a coma after he struck his head on the deck of a speedboat that was trying to outrun the authorities.

Now there are reports still being investigated that shortly after midnight New Years Eve, at least 21 Cubans ended up in the water near Key Biscayne. Four of the men made it to land and notified police. The Coast Guard and Miami-Dade County authorities then pulled 17 more people from the ocean, including three 7-year-old children, a 6-year-old, a 22-month-old and a 10-month-old infant. Authorities suspect the passengers were forced off a smuggler's boat and were told to swim for shore, because a search turned up no evidence of any other craft they might have used.

Never to be known is how many boats capsized at sea without any trace at all, or how many people in broken-down vessels simply drifted off course and died horribly on the huge and unforgiving ocean.

Reasons for taking huge risks

There are many explanations and arguments for why people would take such risks to leave Cuba.  U.S. officials blame what they describe as the Castro regime's failed political, economic and social policies. Many of the passengers have told us that life in Cuba has simply become too uncertain and unbearable to stay. 

Cuban authorities blame U.S. immigration policy for luring Cubans to the United States with the promise of political asylum if they set foot on American soil.

Many in South Florida claim that restrictions on travel and sending money to the island are causing Cuban-Americans to take drastic measures to reunite with their family members. And there are widespread arguments in both countries that the legal process for granting U.S. visas to Cubans is too slow and unwieldy.

Coast Guard hoping to halt 'human tragedy'

Without entering the political fray, the U.S. Coast Guard, from a pure safety standpoint, is strongly urging families to wait out the legal immigration process and to quit hiring the smugglers who callously risk the lives of their loved ones for profit. When the families stop paying, the smugglers will be out of business. 

"The Coast Guard, and our partners in border security, need the help of the community to bring migrant smuggling – and the human tragedy that accompanies it – to an end," said Kunkel. "Just like cops on the beat, we need a community that refuses to tolerate criminal behavior." 

Right now, though, the illicit trade is not only being tolerated, it is booming and on the rise, with more and more families likely to face the unimaginable tragedy of having unintentionally paid for the serious injuries or even deaths of those they love.